Category: Local Perspective
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After the Storm
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Welp, my plan to start Tai Chi on Saturday mornings got waylaid almost as soon as I came up with it. I woke up this past Saturday to a good bit of storm damage and…you can imagine where the day went. We didn’t do fireworks or hot dogs or s’mores.… Read more
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Revolution and Tai Chi
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Happy July! As I’m writing this, we’re all getting ready to celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation. As you’re reading this, the fireworks will be over, and many of us will be wondering what to do with all those leftover hot dogs. In the lead-up to the big day,… Read more
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Further Along
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Do you know how absolutely, soul-quenchingly satisfying it is to see a system you designed and built work as intended? I mean, really. It’s ridiculously fulfilling, even when it’s something small and simple. Remember our driveway drainage issues? Well, our new drainage network got its first real test today. Torrential… Read more
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I Don’t Know, But
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation I had a great idea for this week’s column. Then I forgot it. See, I was driving through Franklin earlier this week, and a thought came to me somewhere around the intersection of Contractors and Connection. It was a really good thought, too. At least, I assume it was. By… Read more
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The Upstarts
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation The sun finally came out in the last few days, AND our skid loader is finally up and running again. So, I’ve been doing a lot more digging! I’m happy to report that our driveway drainage network is almost complete, and a ton of work has been done on the… Read more
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The Week Before the Work
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Happy May! I really wish my brain would come up with something other than “Where did the year go??” when I look at the calendar, but…here it is. May. And I do not, in fact, know where the rest of the year has gone. I do know where the last… Read more
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Sound Familiar?
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Tell me if this sounds familiar. People are talking. It’s going well. The conversation is thoughtful; folks are asking good questions, considering different angles, making sure they understand the full picture. And then it…just sort of…keeps going. One more perspective. One more possibility. One more thing to take into account… Read more
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Says Who??
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Each week, when I sit down to figure out what I’m going to write about, I usually go back and read the last column or two and see where my thoughts want to go next. I got to the last sentence of last week’s article, though, and stopped. “Where a… Read more
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Connection Across Differences: Part 4
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation The question we left off with last week was “How do we create communities where differences don’t immediately divide, and where connection is intentional, not accidental?” I ask myself this question so often. Especially after watching the news, which, frankly, I avoid. I prefer to read my news rather than… Read more
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Connection Across Differences: Part 3
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Our snippet of conversation last week left off with a thought about processing difficult feelings, like anger, and staying grounded as a way of staying connected through differences. Disagreeing and staying connected. Oof. That has, historically, been really hard for me. Once upon a time I would just…avoid any and… Read more
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Connection Across Differences: Part 2
By: Selina Pedi-Smith, Pellere Foundation Last week, we ended with an open question: “Maybe the question isn’t how we resolve every difference, but how we decide which conversations are worth staying in.” That’s an incredibly powerful point. I think a lot about the energy we give to things, to people. The older I get, the… Read more